Student news world wrap-up

Catch our wrap-up of student news around the globe: privilege pays in Oxford, Big Brother comes to Kenyan campuses, forced patriotism in Egypt, nuclear fears in China and underground survival in the US.

Kenyan universities begin biometric registration of students

Kenyan Universities this month rolled out biometric registration of students to easier identify them, in line with a government directive last year. The reason for this ‘Big Brother’ move was that students had been identified as easy targets for terrorists and terror networks. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, the University of Nairobi and Maasai Mara University are among the institutions that registered first-year students biometrically this month. – Read more at Daily Nation

Oxford student spared jail for being ‘too bright’

An Oxford medical student who stabbed her Cambridge University boyfriend in the leg with a bread knife was spared jail this week as the judge said she was “too bright” to be given a prison sentence. The lenient verdict came four months after the judge describes the aspiring heart surgeon as an “extraordinarily able young lady”, whose talents meant that a prison sentence would be “too severe”. While awaiting the verdict, the accused spent time at her mother’s villa in Milan. Privilege evidently counts for something in UK courts. – Read more at the The Telegraph

Egyptian students forced to salute flag

While the US is abuzz over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, Egypt’s new academic year kicked off this week with a new tradition of saluting the flag. This new measure to promote patriotism was announced by Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, following a decision by the Higher Council of Universities (HCU). This has, unsurprisingly, drawn criticism from some who argue that such ceremonies fail to address more pressing problems in an embattled education system. According to Ahram Online, there have been no active student unions in Egyptian public universities since their dissolution in 2015. – Read more on Ahram Online

Chinese universities shut the door on North Korean students

Some Chinese universities are restricting the admission of North Korean students and even blacklisting their scholarship applications as the nuclear weapons crisis escalates on the Korean peninsula, according to several college enrolment officers. All the officials said they were following government instructions, but they did not make clear at what level the orders were made. – Read more on The South China Morning Post

US student trapped in Indiana cave for three days

A 19-year-old physics major in Indiana licked moisture off of cave walls when trapped in a cave for nearly three days after being left behind by a university caving group. Lukas Cavar told the Indiana Daily Student that wrote goodbye messages to friends and family on his phone after being locked inside the Sullivan Cave in Southern Indiana on Sunday. Realising their mistake only days later, the leaders of the society rushed back to free Cavar on Tuesday evening – Read more at Indiana Daily Student